Now Or Never
by Spicenee
Summary: Is this the year that Orihime will finally give chocolates to the one she loves? Or will she sit back and watch from the sidelines like the other years? IchiHime Valentine's Day fic with some Rukia x Renji going on.


Happy Valentine's Day! Hope your having a better one than me. I never really like this day, never had a good Valentine's Day since I could remember. But my love for IchiHime is far greater than my dislike of the day. And hopefully there will be a White Day sequel to it. I'm planning on writing one. So without further adieu here's my Valentine gift to you.

Oh ya, I'd like to thank my unofficial beta, my cousin Yoli (I guess) for being a pain to work with. And being the worst unofficial beta ever. I'm just playin (or am I?). Love you.

**Disclamer: I don't own Bleach or its characters or Romeo and Juliet (it would be really awesome though)**

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**Now or Never**

Inoue Orihime sat at her desk with her chin in her hand, staring out the window. Ochi-sensei was busy with her lecture of William Shakespeare. For as much as Orihime tried, she couldn't exactly wrap her mind around what he was saying. Everything that she had read from Shakespeare went in one ear and out the other. So instead of having her head hurt from trying to understand what was going on, her mind wondered to what was going on outside.

She looked out at the white snow covered grounds of the school. In a couple of months when the sun shined bright and the temperature became warmer she would see other classes out there enjoying their gym class. But right now it was a bare white field.

Orihime tilted her head and the corner of her mouth rose, _'It kind of looks like whipped cream when you get it in a container. But not when you get it in a can,' _the corners of her mouth slightly lowered as she lightly shook her head, _'the whipped cream looks funny when it comes out of a can.' _She straightened her head and smiled, _'It kind of looks like cream cheese too. I wonder what whipped cream and cream cheese taste like with red bean paste? What if I mix them with wasabi and spread on some bread?' _Orihime rubbed her stomach as hunger started to come over her. _'I should try that out when I get home.'_

"Romeo and Juliet is a story of two star-crossed lovers from feuding families." Orihime's attention went back to Ochi-sensei in front of the class. "The play is a tragedy. There's murder and revenge." This got the attention of some of the boys in the class. "There is also true love that leads to a secret marriage." Smiles grew on some of the girls faces. "And it ends in double suicide. This is truly one of Shakespeare's greatest works."

Orihime looked over to Ichigo who actually seemed to be paying attention to the lecture. _'True love, huh?'_

"Okay I'll be pairing you off into two's and you will read and review the scene I assign you. If you do not finish the assignment by lunch today, it will be due tomorrow." Most of the class moaned at the thought of the assignment. Ochi-sensei started pairing up the class into a boy/girl pairing. "Okay, Inoue Orihime. You will be paired up with…" The unpaired boys and Chizuru all propped up in their seats anxiously waiting for them to get paired with her. Ochi-sensei looked around the room. "Kurosaki Ichigo."

The boys all groaned as Ichigo was named to be Orihime's partner. Chizuru seemed to be smoldering in her desk at the thought of "her Hime" being paired up with the brute Ichigo. Orihime slowly turned her head in the direction of where Ichigo was sitting. Her cheeks grew a light shade of pink as her grey eyes locked to his brown eyes. She quickly averted her eyes from his and he did the same.

"You two will be reading all of Act 2 Scene 2. The balcony scene, it is one of the most romantic scenes ever written." Ochi-sensei looked up from behind her glasses and smirked. "Have fun you two."

Orihime felt face grow hotter from the thought of her reading "one of the most romantic scenes" with Ichigo. She nervously waited for the rest of the class to be paired up. One by one everyone got paired up, Tatsuki with Uryū and Chad with Rukia.

"Okay, get with your partner and read your assigned scene." Ochi-sensei checked her watch. "You have until lunch."

Orihime started to get up from her seat to go to Ichigo's but he beat her to it. Ichigo pulled up his seat to the side of Orihime's desk. "Hey Inoue."

"You didn't have to move, Kurosaki-kun." Orihime sat back down. "I would have moved to your desk."

"No, it's alright Inoue." Ichigo sat in his chair and opened up his book to the second scene of Act 2. "It seems that Romeo starts the scene. Shall I?"

Orihime giggled softly. "I don't think you'd make a good Juliet, Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo looked up at Orihime rubbing the back of his head and with a pink shade on his cheeks. "I guess you're right. You'd make a better Juliet than I would."

Orihime looked down at her book to hide the newly crimson shade on her cheeks. She flipped open the book to the page that Ichigo was on. She skimmed through the first part of the scene, not understanding a word she read.

"Inoue?"

"Huh?" Orihime lifted her head and looked at Ichigo.

"You look a little confused."

"Sorry, Kurosaki-kun but I'm afraid that I won't be much help. I sometimes can't understand what Shakespeare is trying to say."

"Don't worry Inoue, I actually like Shakespeare. So if there's anything you don't get just ask and I'll help you."

"Thank you Kurosaki-kun." Orihime looked back down at her book.

"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun…" Ichigo began reading as Romeo.

Orihime's eyes traveled from her book to Ichigo. He held the book in his right hand that was propped up on her desk and the other held his chin. His signature furrow brows were missing but replaced with more relaxed brows. Orihime couldn't help but stare at Ichigo. Every word that Ichigo read seemed to come out crystal clear for her. She understood everything he said, not missing one thing. She was lost in his words not noticing anything around her but only him.

"…That I might touch that cheek." Ichigo looked up. "Inoue? Inoue?"

Orihime blinked a couple of times. "Huh?"

"You're up."

"Oh right." Orihime blushed. _'I got so carried away staring at Kurosaki-kun that I wasn't paying attention on where we are at.'_ She quickly skimmed and found Juliet's line. "Aye me."

Ichigo continued his lines, this time Orihime followed along without looking up at him.

* * *

"Okay for those of you who have finished the assignment hand them in now. For the rest of you I expect them tomorrow." Ochi-sensei said right as the bell dismissing them from lunch rang.

Orihime finished writing down her last thoughts on her paper. She put her pen down and stood up.

"You done, Inoue?" Ichigo grabbed Orihime's paper and put it on top of his own.

"Kurosaki-kun, what are you doing?" Orihime reached for her paper.

Ichigo started to walk to the front of the class. "Turning in our papers."

"But…" Orihime didn't have time argue because Ichigo was already handing in their papers. "Thank you."

Orihime grabbed her school bag from the side of her desk and propped it on her desk. She flipped it open, pulled out her bento and put her books back in the bag. She walked to the back of the class where Michiru, Ryo and Tatsuki had already formed a circle with some of the desk.

"Hey, Orihime." Tatsuki said as she finished forming the circle.

"Hi, Tatsuki-chan." Orihime sat down next to Tatsuki and opened her bento.

Chizuru, Mahana, and Rukia joined them. Rukia sat in to Orihime while Chizuru tried to get in between Orihime and Tatsuki. This made Tatsuki get up from her seat, grab Chizuru by her collar and drag her to an empty seat.

"Why do I have to sit here? I want to sit next to my Hime." Chizuru got up only to get punched back down by Tatsuki.

"Because Orihime is not interested in you, get it through your thick head." Tatsuki sat back down next to Orihime. "So did you guys finish the assignment?"

Michiru nodded and sighed. "I didn't get anything I was reading. And Asano-kun wasn't much help either. So that means I have one more thing to do for homework."

"I had fun with Mizuiro. We were both putting the moves on each other." Mahana laughed.

"Sado and I finished up pretty quickly. It was easy for me being that I read it before." Rukia shrugged before taking a sip from her juice box.

"Kurosaki-kun and I finished just in time. I was still writing a couple things down when the bell rang." Orihime took a bite from her leeks and peanut butter sandwich.

"It looked like you two were in your own world." Mahana put down her chopsticks and edged closely to Tatsuki trying to get close to Orihime. "Is there anything between you two?" Michiru, Ryo and Chizuru stopped what they were doing and stared at Orihime.

"Huh?" Orihime's eyes grew big and her face got red with all the eyes staring at her. "Why do you think that?"

"Well for starters, the way that you two where looking at each other; with tenderness, care, want, need, and love. It's like you were confessing your true feelings."

"It did seem to get pretty intense." Said Ryo.

"So Inoue, do you like Kurosaki?" Mahana pushed on the topic.

"What?" Orihime almost dropped her lunch, turning a shade of red that put Renji's hair to shame.

Mahana's eyes grew big and smile formed on her face. "You do like him! Don't you?"

"I-I never said that!" Orihime exclaimed.

"How could my Hime like that animal? There's no way that will ever happen." Chizuru protested Mahana's claim.

"For the last time, she's not yours." Tatsuki gave Chizuru a threatening glare making her settle down. Seeing that Chizuru was going to back off, Tatsuki looked at the other girls. "Who cares if she likes him or not, it's all up to her. So I think you should all back off."

Mahana nodded. "Alright, alright. No more questions, for now. By the way, is anyone going to give chocolates away on Valentine's Day?"

"Valentine's Day?" Rukia raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's coming up. It's on Friday." Said Michiru.

"It is?" Orihime had forgotten all about it. It had slipped her mind. '_I can't believe I forgot all about Valentine's Day.'_ She looked over to where Ichigo was sitting. '_I wonder if this is the year I'll actually give him the chocolates?'_

"Inoue are you going to give Kurosaki chocolates?"

Orihime snapped out of her gaze as Mahana's question rang through her ears.

"Mahana, I thought I said to back off." Tatsuki started to become slightly annoyed that Mahana wouldn't leave Orihime alone about her crush.

"Oh right. Sorry."

Before any more words were able to be exchanged lunch was over. Orihime helped put the desk back in there original place. She walked back to her desk ready to listen, daydream and look at her prince charming.

* * *

"_Makoto you know how much I love you. I can't bear to live without you."_

Rukia clutched the manga tightly in her hands hoping the response is what she wanted to read. The room fell silent; she didn't care about her surroundings. All she really cared about now is what was going to come next. The anticipation was killing her; she couldn't take it any longer.

"_But what about…"_

Rukia sat up on Ichigo's bed. "You fool he doesn't love her. He only loves you." She screamed at the page as if the character could hear her.

"What the hell! Do you have to scream at that stupid book?" Ichigo asked her from his desk as he tapped his pencil on his open school book.

"It's not a stupid book. It's getting really good. Kaname is finally telling Makoto how he feels about her. But Makoto thinks that Kaname's in love with Akira. And that's not true at all, he sees Akira as a sister and nothing more. There's no way that Kaname loves Akira."

Ichigo stopped tapping his pencil. "Like I said, it's stupid." Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest and turned to her. "Why the hell are you here anyways? Don't you have homework to do? Don't tell me you've finished it already?"

Rukia held her hand up quieting Ichigo.

"You did not just do that?"

Her eyes were fixed on the pages in front of her. She furrowed her brows as she continued to read. Then she raised her eyebrows and a smile appeared on her face. She fell back on Ichigo's bed, hugging her manga tightly.

"Oh Kaname I knew you had it in you." She let out a sigh as she rocked side to side. She rolled over and looked at him. "Did you say something?"

Feeling that he was getting more and more aggravated, Ichigo closed his eyes to try to calm himself down. "I asked you why the hell you were here bothering me."

Rukia sat up on his bed, crossing her legs in front of her. "Oh because I wanted to read my manga in silence."

"And you couldn't do that in your own room?" Ichigo said through his teeth.

"No because Yuzu is playing dress-up with Kon and he keeps trying to have me save him."

His eyebrow twitched. "Then why don't you go somewhere else?"

"Because there is nowhere else I could go. Karin is watching a soccer game in the living room and your dad won't leave me alone for a minute. So I came here."

Ichigo turned back to face his desk and looked back down at his book. "Fine, just don't scream at that stupid book."

"It's not stupid." Rukia moved to the edge of the bed letting her legs hit the floor. "Hey Ichigo, can I ask you something?"

"What?" Ichigo didn't bother looking up from the book.

"What's Valentine's Day and why are the girls here excited about it?"

"It's just some stupid holiday where girls give chocolates to a boy they like."

"Why?"

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

Seeing that she was going to get nowhere with Ichigo she decided not to ask him anymore questions. She ran through the candidates that she could interrogate for more information.

Rukia pushed herself off from Ichigo's bed and grabbed her manga. "Fine if you don't want to tell me more about Valentine's Day then I'll ask someone else." She walked out the door not bothering to hear what his response would be.

Ichigo's eyes don't lift from the book as he waved his hand. "Have fun."

* * *

The cold evening wind hit Orihime's bare skin sending chills throughout her body. It was one of the coldest evenings that Karakura had had all winter long. But for some reason Orihime walked down the snow covered streets of Karakura. She was one of the few people out; everyone else was in the warm indoors away from the unforgiving wind. Everyone that Orihime would see out was walking with a purpose somewhere but she walked like she all the time in the world.

Ever since Valentine's Day was brought up during lunch that was all she could think of. Was going to be the year she finally did something Ichigo? Or was it going to be like the last year, where she only sat back and watched from the sidelines as the other girls gave chocolates to their crushes? Will he know that it was from her? Should she tell him how she feels? Or should she just keep her feelings a secret? Will he acknowledge her feelings? Or would he just shut them down? Did he even feel the same way about her?

They had been through so much this past year that it brought them closer then she could ever imagine. Before Ichigo received his powers from Rukia, their relationship was only of mere acquaintances. The most that they ever said to each other was "Hi. Hello. Good Morning." Simply formalities. But that day turned all their worlds upside down. Nothing was ever the same. And Orihime liked that, she has full conversations with Ichigo. She was able to get closer to him then she could ever imagine. But she wanted to get even closer to him. She wanted a relationship that was more than friends.

Orihime tucked her hands in her coat pockets and tried to snuggle her head closer to her shoulders as another gust of bitter cold wind hit her. _'Why didn't I put on any pants?'_ It would have been smarter than a skirt, leggings, and knee-high boots. Orihime picked up her pace that was set for a bookstore. She thought that while she was there she might just be able to make up her mind.

"Inoue!"

Orihime stopped and turned to see who was calling her. She noticed the familiar face running up to her. She smiled and waved. "Kuchiki-san!"

Rukia stopped right in front of Orihime. She bent over to try and catch her breath. "Hey Inoue. Going somewhere?"

"I was going to the bookstore to pick up some books. Did you want to talk to me?"

Rukia nodded. "Yeah I do. But can we go somewhere warmer?"

Orihime giggled. "Sure. The bookstore is right around the corner." Orihime pointed in the directions of the store.

They both hurried to the two-story store. The warmth from the store felt good on their skin. They felt their bodies slowly thaw out. The store was surprisingly packed with people. A lot were sitting down on couches reading books; others were walking in and out the bookcases of aisles while the store café was full with people warming themselves up with a drink.

"Want to get something to drink?" Orihime signaled to the café.

"Sounds great." Rukia followed Orihime to the counter.

They both walked up to the counter and gave their orders to the guy behind the counter. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed guy stared at Orihime as her and Rukia waited for their drinks. He flashed Orihime a smile as he gave them their drinks.

Orihime and Rukia walked with their drinks to an empty table in the corner of the café. They took off their coats and sat down.

"I think that guy over there likes you, Inoue." Rukia tilted her head over to the direction of the counter.

"Huh?" Orihime blinked a couple of times and looked the way Rukia had indicated. "You think so?"

Rukia took her hot chocolate in her hands. "He was staring at you the whole time we were up there."

Orihime looked back at Rukia who was taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "Oh, I didn't notice."

Rukia looked back at the counter. "He's kind of cute. What do you think?"

Orihime looked at her hands that were clasped around her drink. "I don't know. He's alright I guess. But he's not my type."

Rukia looked at Orihime who was still staring at her hands. Rukia smirked. "Let me guess, your type is crude, rude, tall, orange-haired, a Shinigami, strong, a Vizard, an idiot and a strawberry."

A shade a pink spread across Orihime face as her eyes grew big. "What! How did you know?"

Rukia smiled at Orihime. "I've known for awhile now." Rukia placed her hand over Orihime's hand. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone."

Orihime looked up at Rukia, who was still smiling at her. "Thank you Kuchiki-san. I don't know exactly what to do. I like him but I have no idea if he feels the same way."

"Ichigo is an idiot, that doesn't realize what he has in front of him until it's taken from him. And I think he realized his feelings for you when you were taken to Hueco Mundo. He just has no idea how to express those feelings."

"Kurosaki-kun was never one to show his true feelings."

Rukia waved her hand. "Speaking of the idiot. I asked him what the big deal with Valentine's Day was and he kind of blew me off."

"Valentine's Day? They don't celebrate that holiday in the Soul Society?" Orihime tilted her head to the side.

Rukia shook her head. "No. At least I haven't heard of it."

"So that must mean that you don't know what White Day is either?"

Rukia blinked in confusion. "White Day?"

Orihime shook her head. "It's a holiday celebrated one month after Valentine's Day."

"Oh." Rukia's mouth formed a '0' shape.

"Valentine's Day is when girls give chocolates to the guys. There are two different types of chocolates that can be given to the guy. Giri-choco are the chocolates you give out to your guy friends. But honmei-choco are the ones you give the guy that you really like. If he is really special to you then the honmei-choco should be homemade."

"Oh, I see but then what is White Day?"

"White Day is the guys turn to give something. Normally to the girl that gave them the chocolate."

Rukia cupped her chin with her hand and rested her elbow on the table. "So that means he would have to give me something in return." She thought out loud.

Orihime tilted her head to the side. "Who would?"

Rukia snapped out of her thought. "Huh?"

"Who would have to give you something?"

"Oh, the idiot I want to give honmei-choco to."

Orihime looked down. "Kurosaki-kun?"

Rukia laughed. "Oh God no. There's no way in hell that I would give it to Ichigo."

Orihime looked back up at Rukia. "Then who?"

A light shade of pink crept across Rukia's face. "Uh…Renji."

Orihime's jaw dropped down and her eyes grew. "Abarai-kun? You want to give it to Abarai-kun?"

Rukia slowly nodded.

"I didn't know you like Abarai-kun."

"Yah well…I've been afraid to accept my feelings for him. I guess it's now or never, right? Say Inoue, will you help me make some honmei-choco."

Orihime nodded. "Sure. I'd love to. We could get cook books while we're here. I'm sure they have a lot of useful recipes for homemade chocolate. But I don't think that any of them have recipes on how to make chocolate with red bean paste inside. I wonder why that is? You'd think they would being that red bean paste goes good with everything."

Rukia held up her hand stopping Orihime from continuing her thought before it got more out of hand. "Thanks Inoue."

Orihime and Rukia finished off their drinks before exploring the rest of the bookstore. They walked up and down the aisles glancing through random books. They especially like the aisle where they found books on animals. Rukia found a book on rabbits that instantly got her attention. After a couple minutes of looking over the books, Orihime pulled Rukia away from the rabbit book to continue their way to the cookbooks.

"100 Chocolate Recipes." Orihime picked the book out of the shelf of books and turned to the back cover. "Chocolate cake, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate hearts, caramel covered chocolate. This one looks good."

Rukia looked through the book that she picked out and skimmed through it. "So does this one."

After selecting a couple more different books, Orihime and Rukia decided on the ones that they thought would be useful for them. They walked up to the main counter and paid her their books.

"I think you should take the book home with you." Rukia said as they both walked out of the bookstore.

Orihime nodded. "It makes sense being that we are going to make the chocolates at my apartment."

"It's late. I better get going. Night Inoue, see you tomorrow." Rukia waved.

"Goodnight Kuchiki-san." Orihime waved back at Rukia.

* * *

"115 Fahrenheit (46 Celsius), perfect." Orihime looked at the thermometer that was sticking out of the bowl of chocolate.

"But it says that the temperature should be 122 Fahrenheit (50 Celsius)." Rukia read from the cookbook in front of her.

Orihime looked at the cookbook in front of her. "For the chocolate covered ones the temperature needs to be 115 Fahrenheit (46 Celsius)."

"So you're going to make chocolate covered strawberries?"

Orihime looked at Rukia. "How did you know?"

Rukia shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Just a guess."

Orihime slowly stirred the melted chocolate. "What are you going to make Abarai-kun?"

Rukia stirred her melted chocolate. "Some truffles and possibly a chocolate shaped bunny."

Orihime couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Renji receiving a chocolate Chappy.

"Are the strawberries the only thing you're going to give Ichigo?"

"Um, I don't know." Orihime placed her index finger on her bottom lip and thought for a minute. "I might decide to make him something more."

"Like?"

Orihime's eyes grew bigger as a new concoction came to her. "I know. I should make him wasabi filled chocolates or what about red bean paste filled chocolates."

"Uh, Inoue. I don't think Ichigo likes wasabi or red bean paste for that matter."

Orihime looked a bit disappointed. "Oh really? I thought he did. I mean everyone likes wasabi and red bean paste, right? I couldn't see why he wouldn't." Orihime shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "I guess I'll just make some for me then."

Rukia grabbed the bunny shaped mold and placed in on the table. She put on an oven mitt and carefully grabbed the pot handle. She poured the hot melted chocolate in the molding. "So, how do you plan on giving him his chocolates?"

Orihime's hand stopped over the melted chocolate. "I don't know. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll actually give him these chocolates."

Rukia almost dropped the hot pot that she held in her hands. "What? What do you mean you're not going to give him the chocolates?"

Orihime placed the strawberry down on the plate. She tried to fight back the tears that were treating to roll down her face. "I don't think I can. I'm scared to find out how he feels. What if he doesn't like me?"

Rukia placed her hands on Orihime's arms. "Of course he likes you. He does have feelings for you. Strong feelings. He just doesn't know exactly how to show them. Remember it's Ichigo we're talking about. That idiot won't know unless it hits him in the head. And I think that it's about time that it does hit him in the head."

Orihime wrapped her arms around Rukia and hugged her. "Thank you Kuchiki-san. I needed to hear that."

Rukia pulled away and smiled. "Look if you think that you wouldn't be able to give it to Ichigo personally then we will find away to give it to him."

"I think that's better. I wouldn't be able to give him the chocolates personally."

Rukia crossed one of her arms over her abdomen and her other hand rested under her chin. She tapped her fingers on her cheek. "Hm, I think I know how you could give him the chocolates."

"You do?"

Rukia shook her head. "But first, I'm going to help you finish up. Then I'll tell you."

* * *

"Damn it."

Ichigo woke up with an all too familiar hard cold feeling on his cheek. He groaned as he slowly lifted himself from his cold floor.

"I'm too old to be falling out of bed." He said as he turned off his loud alarm clock.

Ichigo looked at his wall calendar and groaned. Today was not going to be a fun day. The whole day would consist of girls giggling and whispering to each other, his dad questioning his sexuality, and the cries of Keigo not receiving one piece of chocolate. Valentine's Day wasn't a big deal to him; he could care less about today. He quickly got dressed and prepared himself to go downstairs.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he opened his bedroom door. He walked down his stairs to hear Yuzu cooking breakfast.

"Good morning Ichi-nii." Yuzu said from the kitchen.

"Morning Ichi-nii." Karin was sitting on a stool in the kitchen.

"Morning." Ichigo looked around. "Where's the old-" Ichigo sided stepped the incoming foot sending his father straight over the countertop into the dinning room. "-man."

Isshin quickly sprung up from the floor. "That's my boy. You saw me coming. Good, good."

Ichigo grabbed a plate of food and walked out to the dinning room. He sat down at the table, ready to eat his breakfast. He took a mouthful of eggs and noticed something was missing.

"Where's Rukia?"

"I don't know. She wasn't in the room when I woke up this morning." Karin said before biting into her piece of toast.

"Happy Valentine's Day Ichi-nii." Yuzu extended a small red box out to Ichigo.

"Here's mine." Karin handed her box to him.

Ichigo grabbed the boxes from his sisters. "Thanks Yuzu, Karin."

Isshin slapped Ichigo hard on the back causing Ichigo to jerk forward over the table. "How many chocolates do you think you'll get this year?"

"It's probably going to be like last year, when all he got was our chocolates." Karin smirked at her brother.

Ichigo's eye twitched. He knew where this was going, and he didn't like it. Every year was the same thing, the exact same conversation. But for some reason this year seemed different to him.

"Non-sense. Ichigo's got my looks, so that means he's bound to get a lot of chocolates this year." Isshin punched Ichigo in the arm. "Or could it be that you won't get any because you're not interested in girls?"

"I'm not gay." Ichigo yelled at his idiot father as his fist met the bottom his Isshin's chin.

The uppercut sent Isshin tumbling back into the wall. He darted off the wall and swung at Ichigo. "Then why haven't you brought me a daughter-in-law yet?"

Ichigo caught his father's fist with his hand. "Uh-shut up." Ichigo pulled Isshin's caught fist back drawing him in closer so he could land a perfect hit on Isshin's jaw.

Isshin was ready to fight back but Yuzu interrupted the fight. "Here Dad, these are for you." She extended a box similar to the one Ichigo received.

Tears instantly formed at the sight of the box. Isshin grabbed the box and brought it to his chest. "Oh wonderful daughter of mine. You don't know how happy you've just made me." He hugged Yuzu then turned to Karin. "Where's yours?"

"I didn't get you one old goat." Karin looked at him in her normal bored expression.

Isshin was taken aback but his daughters comment. "What? Why not? You gave Ichigo one." He pointed to the box in Ichigo's hand.

A corner of her mouth rose. "I like him more than I like you."

Stumbling back, Isshin place his hand over his heart. He turned to look at the poster of his late wife on the wall. "Oh Masaki, look at how our daughter is treating me."

Not being able to take it anymore, Ichigo grabbed his school bag and headed for the door. He slipped his shoes and coat on after placing his chocolates in his bag. "I'm going to school."

"Have a good day, Ichi-nii." Yuzu waved him off.

"Bring me back a daughter-in-law." His dad yelled at him as he walked out the door.

The cold wind hit Ichigo when he stepped out of the door. He noticed the streets decorated for Valentine's Day. Random house and apartments had decorations hanging from the windows or balconies. Every shop that Ichigo walked by was decorated not one inch uncovered. The thought of skipping school today was starting to become more and more appealing was he walked.

"I-chi-go-"

Ichigo raised his foot to meet Keigo's face, slamming him to the floor. Ichigo walked passed Keigo heading inside Karakura High School.

Keigo jumped back up, holding his nose. "Why do you greet me that way every day?"

"I should ask the same thing."

"Good morning Ichigo, Asano-san." Mizuiro appeared with his boxes of chocolates in his arms.

"What's with the formalities? And all those boxes?" Keigo asked in shock.

Mizuiro looked down at his arms. "Oh these. They are from my many female friends."

Ichigo shook his head. "You're such a player."

"I can't believe you got all those already." Keigo teared up and hung his head low. "I hope I get some this year."

"It's probably going to be like last year where you didn't get anything."

Keigo looked up at Ichigo. "You didn't any either."

Ichigo's eye twitched. "I don't really care about this stupid holiday."

"Oi Ichigo." Chad was walking up to them.

"Hey Chad." Ichigo waved at his friend.

Chad stopped in front of Ichigo. "There's something you need to know before you go into the classroom."

Ichigo, Keigo, and Mizuiro looked at Chad with a puzzled look on their faces. "Okay what is it?"

"Um, I thought that you should know before you see yourself. You were left something."

Ichigo raised his eyebrow. "Something?"

Chad nodded. "I think you should look for yourself."

Ichigo walked passed Chad and went straight into the classroom. He stopped at the doorway when he caught the sight of what Chad was talking about. His eyes grew wide at the sight in front of him. Keigo and Mizuiro stopped right behind Ichigo, both with eyes as wide as Ichigo's.

"No way." Keigo said in awe.

Ichigo slowly walked to his desk. A light shade of pink appeared on his cheeks, he couldn't believe his eyes. A big chocolate heart surrounded by what seemed like two maybe three dozen chocolate-covered strawberries with chocolate truffles outlining the strawberries. The entire thing almost took up most of his desk. Who exactly would give him this?

"I can't believe it. You got something and I didn't." Keigo felt as if a knife was being rammed through his heart.

Ichigo noticed a small white card on the side of the heart. He picked it up and read it.

_To my hero and protector. _

_-Thank you_

Ichigo closed his eyes and sensed the all too familiar reiastu coming from the card and chocolates. He opened his eyes and turned around to see the auburn beauty sitting at her desk. Her hands were clasped together on the desk. Her eyes were looking out the window following whatever was out there. From what he could tell, her cheeks were tinted red and seemed to get darker the more he looked at her.

Ichigo chuckled silently. He'd have to find a way to thank her for this.

* * *

*dances around*

Hoped you guys liked it. Please review. I'd love to hear what you have to say. But no put downs.


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